Email Security

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What Does Email Security Mean?

Email security refers to the collective measures used to secure the access and content of an email account or service. It allows an individual or organization to protect the overall access to one or more email addresses/accounts.

An email service provider implements email security to secure subscriber email accounts and data from hackers – at rest and in transit.

Techopedia Explains Email Security

Email security is a broad term that encompasses multiple techniques used to secure an email service. From an individual/end user standpoint, proactive email security measures include:

  • Strong passwords
  • Password rotations
  • Spam filters
  • Desktop-based anti-virus/anti-spam applications

Similarly, a service provider ensures email security by using strong password and access control mechanisms on an email server; encrypting and digitally signing email messages when in the inbox or in transit to or from a subscriber email address. It also implements firewall and software-based spam filtering applications to restrict unsolicited, untrustworthy and malicious email messages from delivery to a user’s inbox.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.